Method of opening folded signatures for insetting.



-J. J. MILLEB..

-METHOD OF OPENING FOLDED SIGNATURES FOR INSETTING'. APPLICATION FILED'AIR. 10, 1914 1 ,1 .2%,782, Y Patented Jan; 12,1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES llVl/E/VTOR THE NORRIS PETJL 'u PHOTO-L/THQ Hum 1m J. J. MILLER. v METHOD OF OPENING FOLDED SIGNATURES FOR INSETTING. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA m 10, 1914.

1,124,782 Patented Jan. 12, 1915.

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iaiv W IINITEI) STATES PATEN T JOHN J. MILLER,

onnrpn 0F ROCHELLE"PARK, NEW JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 12, 1915.

Application filed April 10, 1914. Serial 1V0. 830,935.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN J. MILLER, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Rochelle Park, Bergen county, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Opening Folded Signatures for Insetting, of which the following is a specification.

In the operation of saddle stitching for pamphlet binding, it is necessary to open the folded printed signatures for mounting them upon the collating and stitching saddle and for insetting the signatures one within another. This work of opening and insetting signatures has been performed by a number of different machines which are usually of complicated and expensive construction.

The purpose of the present invention is to improve and simplify the method of operating upon folded signatures to facilitate the location of the middle of the signatures so that they can be quickly and accurately opened in the middle for insetting and sad= dle stitching.

In carrying out my improved method I prepare the folded signatures with weakened lines or zones upon opposite sides of the back fold, which weakening may be performed during the operation of folding the signatures or subsequently to the complete formation of the signatures. The weakening of the signatures adjacent to the back folding may be by means of lines of perforations or by creasing the signature adjacent to the back fold. The signatures with the weakened lines or zones adjacent to the back fold are supported in any suitable way, such as by means of a clamp or in a box-like receptacle, with the weakened folded edge projecting free from the support, and, with the signature in this position, pressure is applied by any suitable means to the folded edge of the signature in a direction toward and in the plane of the signatures so as to buckle the folded back of the signature to centrally separate the sides at the back fold. This operation opens the signature in the middle, so that it can readily be engaged by any suitable operating device for completing the opening operation. After the signature has been opened in the middle in the by any of the mechanisms well known in the art and passed through the insetting and stitching operations, these last operations forming no part of the present invention.

manner described, it is taken In order that my invention may be fully understood, I will first describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings and afterward point out the novelty more particularly in the annexed claims.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of part of a folding machine equipped with creasing devices. Fig. 2 is a detail elevation of part of the same, taken at right angles to Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan View of an open, partly formed, signature, showing the lines of creases produced by the machine of Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4 is an elevation of a completely formed creased signature. Fig. 5 is an edge view of the same, the creases in the signature being exaggerated for the purpose of clearness; Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the mechanism which may be employed for opening the prepared signatures. Fig. 7 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional view of partof the same, showing the signature opened at its folded edge, and Fig. 9 is an inside view of the signature opening saddle.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings, I have shown parts of an ordinary paper folding machine, 1 and 2 being one pair of folding rollers with which the folding knife 3 cooperates in the usual way and 5 being one of a second pair of folding rollers with which the folding knife 6 cooperates. Sheet convey= ing tapes 7 lead the folded sheet from rollers 1, 2 against a gage 8 in position above the pair of rollers,-of which roller 5 is one. The two pairs of folding rollers indicated in this figure of the drawing are the last two folding devices machine, they may be the first and second pair of folding rollers or they may be the third and fourth, depending upon how many folds are made in the signatures that are being formed.

Adjacent to the folding roller 2 of the first couple shown in Fig. 1 is a creasing roll 12 formed with three circumferential grooves 10 clearly shown in Fig. 2, and cooperating with the grooved roll 12 is a creasing roll 15 formed with three annular ribs 16, or a rib 16 may be mdunted upon individual creasing rollers. It will be observed that, as a sheet is passed through folding rollers 1 and 2. the tapes 7 will carry it between creasing rolls 12 and 15, the sheet being so gaged above the folding rollers be foreit is passed therethrough that the creasing rollers 12 folded sheet three parallel creases or depresof an ordinary folding and 15 will impart to the sions shown clearly inFig. 3, in which S is the partly folded signature having three creases 20, 21 and 22 extending longitudinally through it. The middle crease '21 is arranged upon the line of the final fold of the signature, the creased signature being properly gaged above the final folding rollers, so that the knife 6 will strike the signature in the central crease 21 and pass it between the final fold rollers 5.

Figs. 1 and 5 show a completely formed signature S with the two weakened lines or creases 20, 2: 3, parallel. with and adjacent to the back fold S of the signature. These weakened lines or Zones may be formed by perforating the signature either during the process of fol ling it or after it is completely folded, but the creasing of the signature is preferred since it weakens the fiber of the paper just sufficiently to cause it to perform the function desired but it does not weaken it to such an extent as to injure the signature. The creasing or crimping of the signature may be performed during the operation of folding as above explained or it may be done separately before the complete folding of the signature and the operation of creasing may be by rotary devices as described or by reciprocating or any other creasing devices of known design.

After the preparation of folded signatures with weakened lines or zones adj acent to the back fold as above described, the operation for locating the middle of the folded signature and opening it in the middle is performed by properly supporting the signature with its weakened folded edge projecting free from the support and applying pressure to the folded edge toward and in the plane of the signature. This operation is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in Figs. 6 to 9 of the drawings. In Figs. 6, 7 and 8 l have shown a hopper-shaped clamp 25 of which one side may be hinged to facilitate inserting the signature and which may be operated in any suitable manher not shown. The signature is placed in this clamp or support and while held therein has pressure imparted to it by any suitable device such for instance as a pressure finger 30 carrying an angular shoe 31' which is designed to engage the crown of the folded back and apply pressure toward and in the central plane of the folded signature,

while it is held in the support as described. This pressure finger 30 may be mounted and operated in any suitable manner. When pressure is applied as described the weakened lines adjacent to the folded back of the signature permit the signature to buckle so that the sides will separate adjacent to the back. forming an opening such as indicated at 35 in Fig. 8. The weakening of the Copies of thispatent may be obtained for five. cents signature on opposite sides of the folded back insures the free opening of the signature in the middle, when the pressure is thus applied, it making no difference in the operation whether the signature has folded side edges or out edges.

When the signature is opened as explained it can be engaged by any suitable means such for instance as a gripper i0 which is designed to enter the opening 35 and grasp the signature and remove it from the clamp or support 25 which is of course opened to permit the removal of the signature and carried to any suitable spreading saddle such as shown at 4L5 in Figs. 6, 7 and 9. The open signature may be otherwise manipulated for removing it from its support an completing the operation and when this operation is completed the opened signature is acted upon by any suitable mechanism for insetting or placing upon a collating or stitching saddle.

The particular mechanisms which may be employed for carrying out my improved method are immaterial to the present invention which relates solely to the mechanical treatment of folded signatures to facilitate the location of the middle and the opening of the signatures in the middle for subsequent operation ofv suitable mechanism. The creasing of the signatures from the inside towardzthe outside of the signatures gives them a set tendency to open and is therefore important in assisting the opening operation. The method may be performed entirely by hand.

What I claim is:

1. The herein described method of mechanically treating folded signatures for opening them in the middle, which consists in weakeningthe signatures upon lines or zones at opposite sides of the back fold, then supporting the signature with its weakened folded edge freeand finally applying pressure to the folded edge of the signature toward and in the plane of the signature to buckle the signature-and centrally separate the sides at the fold.

2. The herein described method of mechanically treating folded signatures for opening them in the middle which consists in creasing the signatures upon lines at opposite sides of the final fold, then supporting the signatures with the folded creased edges projecting free from the support, and finally applying pressure to the folded edges toward and in the plane of the signatures to buckle and separate the sides of the signatures at the fold.

JOHN J. MILLER.

I \Vi'tnesses:

WM. A. COURTLAND, WVMJE. KNIGHT.

each, byaddressing. the Commissioner of Patents:

Washington, I). G. 

